Bright Star
by MalenaV
Summary: Her beechen green eyes reflected the stars hanging from the window and Sasuke saw her for what she was. Based on the poem "Bright Star" by John Keats.


**A/N: **_I should be getting back to my other works..._

_"Bright Star" is a poem written by John Keats, widely referred to the greatest of the Romantics._

_I do not own the poem nor the characters in the story._

_Rated M, but nothing explicit; I cannot bring myself to write smut! Ahh...someone teach me._

_Read, and review if you enjoyed it or hated it!_

* * *

_Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art—_

The gray clouds hastened across the sky, revealing the moon in its full form. It's soft, glowing light cast a blue shadow over the grassy hillside and Konohagakure. Sasuke looked down upon the village in its dormancy from the top of the hill that stood tallest over it. The moisture from the blue-tinted grass seeped its way into his sandals until his feet grew cold like the night. And still, he stood there, unmoving, silent, and watchful. Like the brightest star in the sky, he came every night to the same spot and did nothing but watch over the place that he once knew as home; the place that still offered itself as one for him.

And when the sky darkened the way it does just before the arrival of the fresh, morning sun, he would depart with numb feet, not looking back once to see the sun rise cast its brilliant yellow light over the red walls of the village and the orange glow that would emanate from it.

Sasuke's chilled feet began to tingle at a thought that had been festering in the back of his mind for some time and it now stood at the forefront of his thoughts. The prickling wound itself around his feet, starting in the sole and weaving through his toes before shooting up his legs, bringing warmth with it, and around his hips. It settled in his gut for a moment before weaving around to crawl up his back, raising hairs as it went. It wasn't until the tingling reached the back of his neck that he did raise a thawed foot and stepped down from the top of the hill towards Konohagakure.

_Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night  
And watching, with eternal lids apart,  
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,_

Each step down took Sasuke further and further away from the sky with its ever shining stars and ever changing moon. The wind pushed him forward as well as the clouds above him. Every few moments, the moon was interrupted in its task and Sasuke would take a blind step towards his intended destination. But he continued without phase, no longer wanting to stand alone on the chilly hillside with the night's sky.

_The moving waters at their priestlike task  
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,  
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask  
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—_

His foot soon met the softened dirt path at the base of the hill and there, Sasuke paused. The walls of the village had grown to stand above him and for the first time in a long while, he looked up at it. Each passing moment brought his feet deeper into the ground and pushed the walls higher and Sasuke's neck angled further.

Sasuke pulled his feet from the ground and continue forward, the dirt and mud falling off his sandals with each step on the slippery blue grass. His feet began to grow cold again and his pace slowed significantly until he came to a complete standstill. Conveniently enough, he had stopped in front of a gentle, trickling stream. Sasuke looked to the east and saw that the stream was what remained of a river that was closed off by a heap of fallen rocks. He looked back further to see a steadily flowing powdery waterfall falling from a frozen mountain top. A thin layer of white snow glowed blue as the moon's light bounced off it. Sasuke would often look down upon the hill from his previous position at the top of the valley. In his watch, he would see the progression of the ice covering the peak and would walk away as the snow cap would begin to melt; he would leave before the entire valley was rid of the thin layer of frost blanketing the fields, before the sun would save the red walls of Konohagakure.

Sasuke stood before the village naught but fifty feet from the main entrance. The doors were closed to the outside world, to the frost. The ground here was frozen and the walls did not grow higher the longer Sasuke stood there. His feet felt chilled but the tingling had not left them. He stepped forward and continued to do so until his nose scraped the frosted doors. He stood there, silent, in thought, wondering how the place that claimed to always leave its doors open for him would shut him out so easily. He contemplated going back to his proper place at the top of the valley, to never stray from his role as the silent, watchful protector in the night, to remain with the stars.

But a familiar thought broke his silent reverie and he jumped back, up, and then over the frozen walls of Konohagakure.

_No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,_

With chilled feet, Sasuke hopped over houses and buildings untouched by the frost from the outside that still lingered on his feet. Each time his foot met with a roof tile, a bit of that frost would fall off, melt and disappear. It was not long before he stood outside her open window, free of the frost that had perpetually lingered on his feet; he stood before her, protected from the outside world.

Sakura's eyes were open and her breath was steady. For many nights already, she had looked out in the distance and would spot a lone figure in the mountains halfway between Earth and the stars. She would never see him arrive or leave, but saw him standing there, never moving and always watching. And she would lie awake, protected by her white sheets and the sky high walls of Konohagakure. Even on the nights when the cold managed to seep into the village, she never moved to shut her window, afraid he might disappear if she shut him out so wholeheartedly.

Her heart skipped many beats when he stepped in through her window and almost stopped entirely when he approached the foot of her bed. And yet she lied still, unmoving, afraid of the fantasy. Sasuke lifted his leg and placed a knee down on the bed, pushing as he did. And instantly, Sakura sat up and scooted towards him, reaching out to touch him, to pull him towards her, but she stopped. Her hands hovered over his arms, suspended in hesitation.

He continued to stare down at her and she, up at him. A million different questions were running through her head at that moment and Sasuke could see it in her eyes. But she couldn't see anything in his eyes that were dark as a starless night. But in reality, a maelstrom of all his thoughts swirled around in his eyes, casting away the light that had shown in them when he stood upon the top of the hill with the stars with a mind empty of anything else.

Sasuke leaned forward and crooked his head down, placing a chaste kiss upon Sakura's dry lips. There he stayed for a moment longer than any other either of them had known. He pulled away slowly, Sakura's lips following his in a wordless protest.

The life was put back into Sakura's hands and she placed them on Sasuke's arms at last. She pulled at his shirt, exposing his shoulders first, his chest following, and let go once his entire torso was bathed in the moonlight. Sakura pulled herself closer to him and shivered at how cold he was.

With Sakura in his arms, Sasuke scooted up the bed, the sheets rumpling beneath his knees as he did. Gently, he pulled Sakura away from his cold skin and placed her on the bed.

He kicked off his sandals.

He stroked her hair and then her face, lingering for a moment at her chin, drawing her head up with a finger. His hand travelled further still until it reached the hem of her shirt; he pulled it up until her skin glowed blue.

Sasuke hovered over Sakura, lost in thought. His hands roamed her sides, cold fingers leaving a trail of gooseflesh in their wake. She closed her eyes, shivering at the unfamiliar contact that made her heart flutter.

He placed his head in the valley between her breasts and closed his eyes. Sakura's heart stopped and her skin tightened as his whole frigid form came to rest upon her. But it was only for a moment and Sakura welcomed him in her warm embrace, wrapping her arms around him to pull him in close. She did the same with her leg, wrapping it around the back of his thigh tentatively. She closed her eyes as well and let her heart beat.

Sasuke listened.

_Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,  
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,_

Sasuke would return in the future nights to come and they would end differently than this one. He would not stop with her shirt, but move onto her pants. He would pull them and, somehow, find a way to do the same to himself. He would not stop until it was just her and him on top of the rumpled sheets, the moon casting its glow over them. He would bite her, nip her, gently caress her. He would dig his nails into her hips and thrust his own into her. He would interrupt the silent night with their cries of pleasure and ecstasy.

And then he would kiss her.

But tonight, he simply held onto her, resting his head against her breast, listening to the gentle rhythm of her beating heart. He sighed, contented.

_Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,_

For the longest time, Sasuke had spent his nights alone on the chilly hilltop, watching his old home sleep; watching over his old love. It was not what he had wanted, though. He did not want to be like the brightest star in the sky, alone as he carried out his solitary task of looking down upon a village hidden by the leaves and covered in frost. And so he moved down and into the home of an old friend, a constant love. Even during the darkest nights when the moon would not show itself, her window would be open to him and her love, ever steadfast, would guide him into her arms and onto her waiting breasts.

Her breath hitched and Sasuke looked up at her to see the tears, like the stars, that were shooting down from her eyes. Her beechen green eyes reflected the stars hanging from the window and Sasuke saw her for what she was: A bright star.

_  
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,_

Her tears continued to flow and Sasuke said nothing, knowing there was nothing that could be. He placed his head back on her breasts and listened to her heart beating. It was steady, and constant, as her heart always would be for him. And as the night drew on, her breathing slowed and calmed, falling into rhythm with her love. Sasuke was silent, listening to only her.

He would leave her as the night grew dark as it did before the dawn and she knew this. Sakura stayed awake, keeping her eyes on the sky in the distance, waiting for it to begin its inevitable change. Her grip on him tightened.

The future nights they would share would not end so solemnly, but would have pleasures moistened with love and carnal in nature. They would not be silent like they were now; they would cling onto one another, hips connected and legs entwined. But, on that first night, Sasuke rested on his fair love's breasts, feeling the soft swell and fall of her breathing. It was where he wanted to spend the rest of his nights, the rest of his life, forever.

And Sakura would accept that, for her love was unchanging, unwavering, eternally fixed on one spot, like the brightest star in the sky.

_  
And so live ever--or else swoon to death._


End file.
